The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is offering parents of children born in 2012 a free home lead dust test kit.
Exposure to lead dust is the most common way children are poisoned by lead in Maine.
The offer, enclosed with an educational brochure, will arrive in mailboxes across the state in conjunction with National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, Oct. 21-27.
Previous offers have resulted in more than 400 families in Maine testing their home for lead dust, according to the Center. About one quarter of those families identified lead dust problems in their homes and received education on living safely with lead paint and properly addressing lead dust problems.
Young children who live in housing built before 1950 are most at risk for lead poisoning. This is due to the common usage of lead paint that was not banned until 1978.
For more information, call Terry Sherman at 373-6995.
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